The latest in a series of computer attacks within the MSU community has struck the Human Resources servers.

On Friday, MSU officials sent an e-mail to some members of the MSU community informing them that two of the department's servers, which hold information such as social security numbers and personal home addresses, had been hacked into by an unknown attacker.

Assistant Vice President for Human Resources Pamela Beemer sent an e-mail to notify the potentially affected people about the intrusion.

The letter said someone attempted to gain unauthorized access to two MSU Human Resources servers between June 25 and 26. Once the attempt was confirmed on June 27, both servers were taken offline.

The incident is under investigation with the MSU offices of Academic Computing & Network Services, Administrative Information Services and MSU police.

The servers involved had personal information about MSU employees and retirees, and those covered under benefit programs through MSU, university spokesman Terry Denbow said.

He said it is not certain what information, if any, could have been accessed during the server intrusion. But he said the chance appears to be slim that data was accessed because the intrusion was interrupted by a Human Resources staff member.

"These things have happened here and elsewhere," Denbow said, adding that to his knowledge, this is the first attack on the department's servers. "The best policy and practice we have is to inform and alert people to what happened."

The intrusion is the latest in a series of computer problems this summer. The Wharton Center and the MSU Federal Credit Union were both subject to hacking attempts.

Denbow said information such as payroll files, retirement account information, credit information and health records were not housed on the affected servers.

Beemer said the intrusion into the MSU Human Resources servers occurred despite a variety of system security mechanisms already in place, which have thwarted attacks in the past.